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Close Your Eyes and Think of America
If the Republican Party is not “ride, or die” with Donald Trump in this hour, it is the end of any shred of a claim to be the law and order party, the constitutional party, the federal republic party, or the civil rights party. The Democrats think they have created what Scott Adams describes as the “two-way win”: Republicans dump Trump, they win; Republicans don’t dump Trump, they win. Only the first of those is absolutely true, but the second one is also if Republicans do not “turn as one.”
No one expects unity behind Trump, the man. But it is critical to unify behind Trump, the everyman. The Republican Party must adopt the Trump meme, above. Trump is not the target, but our constitutional rights are. But, you say, “Trump is unworthy!” I respond, “So what?!” Safeguarding the rights of good people is easy; safeguarding the rights of all is hard. As soon as you accept that it is okay to deny someone equal protection of law, no one is safe.
William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”
Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”
William Roper: “Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!”
Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!”
― Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts
This is a test. It is a great and difficult test. The title to this post is a formulation of the famous expression, “close your eyes and think of England.” It was an admonition to take on an unpleasant task (for some) to ensure the future of the nation. The original statement came from a lady’s diary that I will not quote and which was more explicit, but you can look it up.
Am I overstating the case? I don’t think so. Read a couple of commentaries on Powerline here and here. We are nation run by the most lawless group in our nation’s history. Every Republican candidate other than Trump should suspend their campaigns in solidarity. If that is not their inclination, if that is something that their major donors resist, that should tell you something about these people’s dedication to the rule of law. Rhetoric is not enough. It is a time for action.
Watch and see who does what. You might say, “Why doesn’t Trump do the right thing and remove himself as a distraction?” It is too late for that. Trump adopted the role of symbol, and has suffered mightily for it. The Democrats have embraced him as that symbol and continue to attack. If Trump removes himself now, the furies will be even more bold and simply expand the target list.
Close your eyes and think of America.
Published in General
Jonah Goldberg.
That’s certainly a point of view. But trotting out a committed Never Trumper quote to justify your critique does not move the ball in the debate, it is simply deepening the trenches.
Not a chance that it would reinforce that principle. It would only reinforce the principle that Republicans should be prosecuted.
I disagree.
Trump or someone else is fine with me. We need to show that we are not a cult of personality. That no matter who is nominated, we will elect him. If you destroy our frontispiece, then we have another. We are all charging the enemy machine gun nest, we expect the leader to get cut down, but they can’t get us all. No matter who is in front, we are all on the same team.
You know why radical Islam has survived? Because, among many reasons, our military and government treat it as a cult of personality. We cheer when this or that leader is killed, but nothing seems to change no matter how many leaders die. Their leaders are now obscurities, no one recognizes them and when they are killed the administration has to school us that the dead man was a leader. But they don’t depend on a cult of personality. They are not a communist dictatorship, they are an ideological/religious movement. Kill their leader and another steps right up without missing a beat.
We don’t have or want a cult of personality. We want a winning ideology. Take out Trump? Sure, who’s next? Desantis? Come Ron, your turn. Tulsi Gabbard, you’re up next. The librarian across town? Be prepared to jump in. We need to focus on the ideas, not the person, and some Never-Trumpers need to get on board or they will be the end of our nation.
Let them defeat Trump and they will do worse to DeSantis.
I want to defeat the Dem persecution of Trump. I am done depending on any candidate’s promises.
I have collected many screenshots of the Dem lies about Trump. They have a working game plan and a spineless Republican audience.
No, spineless Republicans make the job easier.
That, what he is talking about, and pearl clutching pretty much explains Trump hatred on our side.
“Civil liberty” has been endangered for a long time. I am discouraged by how few on my side see the real problem. We have been warned for years.
Georgia voters were an embarrassment. Knowing their choice would determine which party would control the Senate, they clutches their pearls and punted. I blame them, not Trump or Walker.
Exactly. Also, a pardon implies guilt, as does abandoning him. Both are wins for Dems. They will attack D with every lie they can muster and wash, rinse, repeat.
In a blue city, not happening.
That’s a worthy objective, for sure. I’d prefer doing it without electing Trump, but I think he should stay in the running for now. (And why wouldn’t he, given that he seems to be ahead in the polls?)
There were no important documents. Three documents were mentioned, the letter from Obama to Trump (he returned), a letter from Rocket Man (he returned), and classified not detailed. If Trump originated them, he could declassify them. There is no mention such documents existed but in this day of over classification, who knows. If another agency created them, he could declassify them or keep them. They would not be the only copies and definitely weren’t critical enough to warrant the BS raid.
Mark Levin has criticized Barr’s comments.
I read this on Twitter and just rolled my eyes.
Not a chance. That principle that will be reinforced is that Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden et al are above the law.
I reject the premise that Trump broke the law.
I don’t have sufficient information to do that, nor do I have sufficient information to say he did. But it doesn’t matter.
Or to put it a little differently: Since everyone commits 3 felonies a day on average, it’s unlikely that Trump didn’t do so as well. But that’s not the important issue here.
I’ll vote for Desantis in the primary, but I’ll vote for whoever wins that nomination.
They have a repeated pattern of lying about norms and defying rules and norms. Since they defied rules and norms in the raid, I am confident they are lying about Trump and making criminal that which isn’t criminal.
Since they defied rules and norms in the raid, I am confident they have defied rules and norms in the raid. I am not confident they are lying about Trump. I am not confident they are telling the truth, either. If lies will work to their advantage they will lie. If telling the truth will work to their advantage, they will tell the truth. More likely some combination of the two will work best for them, because pure lies seldom work unless there is some truth mixed in.
It’s best to get the specifics.
There have been some exceptions, such as Bill Clinton, who would lie even when telling the truth might work more in his favor. I don’t remember the specifics, but during his presidency people would occasionally remark about it when instances occurred.
Fool me once…
Some people just cannot stop them selves from lying. Take the recent interview of Donald Trump by Brett Baier on Fox News. Trump said the reason for hiring Nikki Haley to be his UN Ambassador was for the sake of South Carolina. Nikki Haley was overrated as a governor and by giving her a federal job it cleared the way for her lieutenant governor — who is a great guy — to become governor. Does anybody really believe that was the motivation for hiring Nikki Haley? She wasn’t very good but I brought her on the team so South Carolina wouldn’t have to put up with her anymore?
Who hears this and says “That Trump is awesome. He will populate his administration with people he thinks are lackluster just so the people in the bum’s state won’t have to deal with him or her anymore. How selfless.” These preposterous stories are not going to get him one extra vote, but he cannot help himself. Anybody who believes this claim is (1) true and (2) a good reason to support him was going to vote for Trump come hell or high water anyway.
McMaster, not Haley supported him for president. I wouldn’t be surprised if McMaster had his ear. I thought she was a good governor. I have never been a big McMaster fan but he is about as good as we could ask for at the moment. I doubt if Trump had many volunteers. Career politicians were told their careers would be over if they worked for him. Haley follows a different drummer. I think vp is her ceiling.